If you need to lose weight, you may be trying to find the easiest plan for your individual needs. Diet products, such as prepared meals, food bars and diet shakes all have advantages and disadvantages for weight loss. Keep in mind that with or without these products, the healthiest diet emphasizes a balance of nutrient-dense foods.
Weight Loss
Diet products can make weight loss easier because using prepared meals or meal replacement bars or shakes means that you do not have to measure portions or cook special meals to get the right number of calories at each meal. However, diet bars may leave you feeling hungry, and they are more calorie-dense than many other foods, such as lean proteins, fruits and vegetables. Shakes provide liquid calories, which are less filling than calories from solid foods, according to the Mayo Clinic website.
Nutrition
Diet products may be fortified with essential nutrients that are not sufficient from your regular foods because your weight-loss diet restricts your food intake. Meal-replacement bars and shakes are especially likely to be fortified with vitamins and minerals to prevent deficiencies. Diet products may have dietary fiber, which lowers cholesterol and helps regulate blood sugar, but a disadvantage of getting fiber from supplements is that it may not be as effective as fiber from whole foods, such as fruit, vegetables, nuts, beans and whole grains, according to the Linus Pauling Institute Micronutrient Information Center.
Sustainability
An advantage of diet bars, shakes and prepared meals is that they can help you stick to your weight-loss diet because they are ready to eat or quick to prepare, so they can fit into a busy lifestyle. But relying on special diet products instead of regular food means that you may become discouraged because you cannot eat the same foods as your friends, family or coworkers. Using diet products to reach your goal weight can be a disadvantage because they do not teach you to incorporate healthy homemade meals in your diet, so you may return to your former eating habits and regain the weight.
Other Factors
Diet products can be convenient, because you do not have to cook or prepare your own food, but they can be inconvenient if the ones you need are not available at your grocery store. You may need to order them in advance, which requires you to plan ahead. And they may be more expensive than a diet with regular foods that you prepare for yourself.
References
- MayoClinic.com: Cutting Liquid Calories More Effective for Weight Loss?; Jennifer Nelson and Katherine Zeratsky; April 2009
- Mayo Clinic: Weight Loss: Choosing a Diet That's Right for You
- Mayo Clinic: Over-the-Counter Weight-Loss Pills: Do They Work?
- Linus Pauling Institute Micronutrient Information Center; Dietary Fiber; Jane Higdon; December 2005
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